The British Prime Minister was as blunt as any unionist could wish. He said that any new deadlines or preconditions concerning IRA arms decommissioning would damage the Belfast Agreement and postpone the day when the people of Northern Ireland would live in a normal democratic society. Straight talking has traditionally been lauded by the unionist community. Because of that, members of the Ulster Unionist Council should give full weight to the views of the British Government, even if they have no particular liking for Mr Tony Blair or for his intervention, when they meet in Belfast tomorrow. Unionists have to be concerned with political realities in London if they are to retain control over their own lives.
Anti-Agreement forces within the Ulster Unionist Council, led by Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, Mr Willie Ross and others have launched another thinly-veiled assault on Mr David Trimble's leadership. A motion in their names seeks to set November 30th as a date for the withdrawal of UUP ministers from the Northern Executive in the absence of IRA decommissioning. Should that motion be endorsed, Mr Trimble's leadership would be undermined and the Belfast Agreement might be fatally damaged. One of the few certainties to have emerged from this long drawn-out peace process is that deadlines do not work and are, invariably, counter-productive. Mr Trimble's critics are fully aware of that reality.
There is a lot to lose. After years of violence, the Belfast Agreement has offered the people of Northern Ireland the prospect of a peaceful and political way forward. An Assembly sits at Stormont. There are North/South bodies. There is a power-sharing executive involving the major parties. Last week, a spending budget was agreed by those ministers and, on Tuesday Mr Trimble and Mr Seamus Mallon launched an ambitious programme for government affecting health, education, human rights and other areas. For the first time in 26 years, a devolved government is working effectively in the interests of all the people of Northern Ireland.
Of course there are problems. Stresses and strains wrack both communities over security issues and the pace and nature of reform. Unionists are unhappy over proposed RUC reforms and they want early decommissioning of IRA weapons. Nationalists are determined the Patten report on policing should be fully implemented. And the British Government has been accused of bad faith by republicans.
In spite of all that, there has been steady, if erratic, progress. Last Wednesday's announcement by the IRA that it had reopened its arms dumps to international inspectors was an important confidence building measure. And it is now under pressure to resume talks with General John de Chastelain and the International Decommissioning Body in order to meet the commitment given last May to put its weapons beyond use in a complete and verifiable manner. A unilateral move by the Ulster Unionist Council at this stage, breaking the terms of that May agreement, would surrender the high moral ground to republicans and reduce - rather than increase - pressure on the IRA.
Mr Blair's visit was clearly designed to support Mr Trimble's leadership and to spell out the consequences of the imposition of new preconditions and deadlines by the Ulster Unionist Council. If the Executive collapsed, he said, the Assembly would fall and there would be an end to devolution. And, after all that, there would still be no arms decommissioning. He invited the people of Northern Ireland to look back at where they had come from and to consider what they had gained. Jobs and investment were beginning to flow and there was the prospect of a prosperous and secure future. Mr Trimble appears determined to confront his opponents. Their motion, he said, had "no connection with the real world".